Kingdom hearts: Reunited
by LunaPendragon18
Summary: on a rescue mission Sora,Riku and Kairi must rescue an unknown Keyblade master,however how is it that from her past all she remembers is Sora? Strange memories begin 2 enter sora's head, but their not his.who is the sleeping boy,what's their connection?
1. The Letter

Kingdom Hearts Reunited

The Letter

Sora, confused, picked up the damp letter. Its fine, curly, handwritten words were beginning to smudge the paper blue. A gentle breeze blew through Sora's dark brown hair. Although weak, it threatened to tear the paper out of his hand. He heard the crunching of sand as Kairi and Riku leaned behind him, Donald and Goofy, to read what was on the letter;

_Sora, _

_If you are reading this, it can only mean that you have finally arrived at your home world. I know that you have probably just returned but the worlds need you once again. If Donald and Goofy are with you, please tell them to bring you with them to Disney Castle.. I also request that Kairi and Riku accompany you._

_That is all I dare write for fear that the darkness might get hold of this letter. I will explain the rest once you arrive._

_King Mickey_

"What could the king want us for?" said Riku when he finally finished reading the letter.

"He wants all three of us to go with Donald and Goofy, for some reason." Said Kairi wiping her short red hair out of her face. "The Darkness must be growing again."

Donald and Goofy (who probably hadn't finished the letter) were jumping around here and there; overjoyed that Sora and the others would be travelling with them again.

Sora carefully folded up the latter, and facing the cool see breeze, as if admiring the sun set he said, "Where there is darkness, there will always be light."

Everybody was silent to her the adolescent speak, he turned his head at them and smiling, continued, "And if that light is me, so be it!"

Riku nodded his agreement. Kairi clapped her hands together in joy, another adventure! Donald and Goofy were dancing and chanting again, they were all going to Disney Castle.


	2. A request from the Darkness

A request from the Darkness

The tree children, Donald and Goofy climbed out of the Gummi ship. They had been travelling a whole day, and Donald was close to exploding. His temper was as short as Captain Hook's at times. 24 hours trapped in the Gummi ship with Sora and Goofy was worse than fighting the Heartless.

"Welcome to Disney Castle." Said Queen Minnie, who was greeting them on her own.

"Good evening your Highness." Said Goofy, giving her a rather clumsy bow. The others followed. For Riku and Kairi, this was their first time at Disney Castle and they wanted to make a good impression.

"Queen Minnie, erm, where is Daisy?" asked Donald, sounding worried.

"Unfortunately, Daisy has caught the flu and was unable to be here with me, but she sends you all her greeting," said Minnie and she added, "And she sends you her love Donald."

Donald's face went red, Goofy started to laugh.

"You Highness, the King called us here, it sounded argent." Said Riku.

Minnie's face suddenly went all serious. "It is. The King himself won't tell me anything about it, for fear the darkness might target me if I learn to much. Follow me then."

Minnie led the group through numerous brightly lit Passages. Sora had a good laugh watching his friends' reactions at the beauty of the castle, it was hilarious. Minnie led them to a pair of large indigo door with the crest of the mouse on it.

"King Mickey awaits you behind these doors. This is as far as I can take you." Said Minnie sadly. She hated, as much as Kairi, to be left out of thing likes this. Sora thanked here and pushed open the doors.

It was a bright white room with very little furnishing. An indigo, round table sat in the middle of the room. A small black mouse with a crown on his head sat at one end of the table. It was King Mickey. Besides him sat a man in a hooded Jacket, his face was fully covered. Just by looking at him, Sora's gut told him he knew who was under that hood, and he did not necessarily like that person.

The king and the hooded man stood up as a greeting to them. The group bowed at the mouse.

"Welcome friends!" said King Mickey. "I am glad you made it here safe and sound."

"King, what has happened? Have the heartless begun to attack again?" asked Sora.

"No, what I ask from you is retrieval- if not a rescue mission." Explained the king.

"Rescue? Who needs rescuing?" asked Sora.

"I think it's better I let our guest explain." Said the king. Pointing at the table for all of them to sit. They all did as they were indicated to. Anxious and curios the children waited attentively for the hooded figure to speak.

When the silence was finally broken, the voice that penetrated it was one they all knew and despised- Ansem.

"You all know me." Began Ansem, his face was shrouded in shadow, but he seemed to be looking at Sora in Particular. "But none of you knew me before the darkness swallowed my heart."

"And you me." Commented Riku, the menace in his voice was clearly heard.

"I know I have no right to ask anything from you after the way I treated you, but listen to me. Not for my sake but for Aqua." Said Ansem. Still not looking away from Sora.

"Aqua?" Asked Donald.

"Who's Aqua?" asked Kairi. She didn't like Ansem one bit after what he had done to Riku and Sora but this Aqua person sounded familiar.

"Aqua's a Keyblade master." Blurted out Sora. Everyone turned to look at him. He had a surprised look on his face. How did he know that? He defiantly never met an Aqua before, but why was he so sure that she was a Keyblade master.

"You are right." Agreed Ansem. "One of the best, and she held one of the purest hearts."

"How did you know?" asked King Mickey, intrigued by Sora's knowledge of Aqua.

Sora shrugged, he didn't know himself.

"Is it possible the two of you have met once in the past?" asked Ansem.

"No, I'm certain I never met anyone called Aqua." He insisted.

Ansem was silent for a moment. "She does however know you."

The surprise must have shown on Sora's face because Ansem then said, "let me start from the beginning. When you defeated me a few years ago, I was sent to the realm of darkness. However instead of allowing the Darkness to swallow me I began to search for the light. That was when I met Aqua, injured and exhausted. Her memories where slowly being deleted, and still are. Now as you know, when one has infinity of boredom ahead of them, one begins to talk. I asked her how she arrived in the realm of darkness yet she could not remember, but for some reason, it reassured her that _she_ was in the realm of darkness. I then told her about my evil reign and how a young Keyblade weilder named Sora, defeated me.

"At the mention of your name, her face lit up, as if a little flame of hope had been relit. When I asked her if she knew you, she said, your name was like some whitewashed memory, she remembers no details just your name. That is why I called _you_ here. The darkness has finally brought her to the brink of death, if she does not leave the realm of darkness soon, she shall parish."

"Couldn't you have brought her back with you?" said Donald with narrow eyes.

"Observe" said Ansem. With a wave of his hand, a knife appeared in his hand. Before anyone could react, he slit his own throat. Riku, Kairi and Sora pushed back their chairs. But instead of bleeding, Ansem's neck simply flickered and went back to normal.

"An apparition!" gasped Kairi.

Ansem nodded. I cannot leave the realm of Darkness just yet, but if Aqua remains there, she will surely die."

The group was silent.

"Please," Ansem was literally begging now. "Do not do it for me, but if she remains here the world will lose a princess of Heart."

"A princess of Heart! Like Kairi?" gasped Riku.

Ansam nodded.

Sora stood up. "So why are we still here? If someone needs my help from the darkness, I can't say no. Goofy, Donald will you come with me?"

Before they could agree, King Mickey interrupted them."Only Keyblade wielders can enter the darkness without being immediately swallowed."

"But we can't let Sora go on his own!" protested Goofy.

"He shall not go alone." Continued the King, " Those whose heart were once swallowed by darkness and those of pure light may join him."

They all looked Kari and Riku, "guess that's us." stated Riku. Kairi nodded, excited.

"No, you can't." Said Sora, shaking his head.

"But why?" whined Kairi.

"If anything happened to the two of you, I don't know what I'd do..." explained Sora.

"Sora, I'm not letting you go into the darkness alone. I was there, Sora. Alone, it will swallow you whole." Argued Riku.

Sora was silent. His and Riku's eyes were locked as if in some silent battle. Kairi held her breath, Sora's decision now, would affect all their futures.

Sora sighed, "Okay Riku, you can come, but Kairi you can't come." Concluded Sora.

Riku ran to the door, where Sora held it slightly open.

"But why:" Whined Kairi running towards them.

"Kairi," began Sora, without looking at her. "We just got you back, if we lost you, if I lost you, well..."

His voice trailed off as he walked out the door. Riku looked at Kairi and shrugged.

"Wait! Sora! How are we supposed to find the Realm of Darkness?" Yelled Riku, running after Sora.


	3. Memories, but whose memories are they?

Memories, but Whose?

Somewhere in the vastness of space, the red and yellow Gummi ship flew silently. Inside it where two equally silent teenagers- Riku and Sora.

When Sora finally realised he had no idea where the Realm of darkness was or how to get there, King Mickey allowed them to have the Gummi ship for the quest. Ansem gave them the last Know co-ordinates of where a door to the Realm of darkness had last been spotted. Riku punched them into the Gummi ship reluctantly, he didn't trust Ansem one bit. As they boarded the ship all of Sora's friends where there- Donald, Goofy, King Mickey and Queen Minnie- but Kairi was nowhere to be seen. She was probably sulking somewhere because Sora hadn't let her come. Sora really wished she had been there, at least to see her once more before her left for who knows how long.

Riku and Sora had been travelling for half a day - without a word. Riku wasn't sure what was wrong with Sora, he wasn't acting normal. He was too quiet. Could Kairi's absence from their farewell have caused this? Sometimes Riku doubted whether Sora was fifteen or five. To get offended about something so trivial... Little did Riku know what was really going on in Sora's head?

An Apocalypse was raging in his head, he had an immense headache which would just not stop. It took all his strength not to yell out in pain. He didn't know what was happening to him, ever since his conversation with Ansem, and the mention of Aqua, he knew things he didn't know he knew. For some reason he knew names without faces- Terra, Master Eraques, master Xehanort and Ventus- where he got these names he did not know. At times it felt like, if he didn't concentrate on one thing, a tide of foreign memories would sweep him away and drown him.

So as you may see, the Gummi ship's current pilots were pretty preoccupied by their own thoughts.

"We're here!" said Riku. Sora nodded.

"The entrance to the Realm of darkness should be somewhere here..." said Sora looking at the radar.

Suddenly a red light began to flash and a haunting siren began to ring.

"What going on?" yelled Riku over the noise.

"We're losing altitude!" yelled Sora, trying to regain control of the ship, but to no prevail.

Just as suddenly as all the sounds and lights started, they stopped. "That was weird..." said Sora.

"Sora," began Riku looking around. "We are in the realm of darkness!"

"What!" exclaimed Sora, "How did we get here?"

"Don't know, but we're here now." Continued Riku who went back to the controls.

Sora didn't move. He was feeling light head and dizzy. The whole cabin was spinning. He couldn't move, his eyes began to droop. Once his eyes did close the Gummi ship disappeared- seriously.

Riku felt the seat vanish from beneath him but he didn't fall. The realm of darkness at some points had gravity and some had zero gravity. Lucky for them this was a zero gravity zone. But when he looked at were Sora had been sitting , he was no longer there. Riku looked down to see Sora falling into the darkness, he was out cold. How was he falling! There's no gravity to pull him down! Ansem must have sent them to some freaky part of the Realm of Darkness to separate them, that must have been his plan all along! As if swimming, Riku swam trough he darkness towards Sora.

Sora didn't feel like he was falling, infact he had no idea he was falling at an alarming speed. Sora was remembering memories that weren't even his. The memories just sped through his mind, like someone had just pressed fast forward on a tape with missing scenes...

_A castle with high grassy mountains, surrounded by flowing water. The building itself decreased in width as it reached the ground, tall spires protruded from the roof. Two lengths of golden chain connected the castle's two twin peaks. It took Sora's breath away. Sora felt relief flood trough him for some unknown reason. As if this was a lost home, a home he would someday wish to return too._

_Then in a merge of vibrant colours, he looked at his once empty hand. In it he held a five pointed, flower like green star. It was made from stained glass with silver frames, and had brown stitches and a brown cord tied to the topmost piece, and a strange token he just knew without thinking was the Mark of Mastery symbol. It looked so similar to the lucky charm someone, he couldn't remember who, had given him. Just by looking at it, it filled him with happiness, but it was a foreign happiness, it didn't feel like his own. Then he clutched his fist and the darkness was filled with a caring voice:_

"_**Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit. And the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You will always find your way back to each other. An unbreakable connection.**__**"**_

_These words sounded so familiar for some reason..._

_Then the voice vanished and so did the strange charm. He clenched his fist, and heard a yell from infront of him. He raised his head. Before him stood and old, Japanese looking man. He wore a white, red lined haori that had a hood, along with slightly shorter than normal, light-coloured hakama. Underneath his haori, he wore a navy blue shirt with a large white X pattern on the front. He also had jagged scars over his right eye and left cheek. He wore pieces of armour, gold and black. The old man had black hair, tied into a short, high topknot, with one bang falling off to the right side of his face. The man had his hand outstretched, in it, in a flash of light, a strange version of the keybalde appeared in it. He readied himself for battle and began to speak:_

"_**The x-blade has no place in this world or any other..."**_

_Those words filled him with so much sorrow and sadness, he stopped listening. He didn't react as the man ran toward him with his key blade. A garbage man cleaning up what the worlds needed no more..._


	4. Hearts in the darkness

Hearts in the darkness

The darkness swallows all hearts, no matter how pure or light. The darkness finds away to get to us, weather by feeding on our desires or engulfing us at our weakest moments. Once the darkness has you in its grasp it won't let go easily, if you reach out and grab light's hand, you shall be pulled away from the darkness.

Sora, during his confusion of memories, was falling through the darkness, being engulfed by it . His friend, his power, was out of reach as he tried to navigate through the darkness. He was falling into darkness, falling. Falling...

Then the light grasped his hand. It pulled him out, bringing him back to the light...

"Sora!" called a familiar voice. The voice kept on calling him. Sora followed the voice to the light.

He opened his eyes. In front of Sora's eyes kneeling in front of him, was Kairi!

"Kairi!" gasped Sora, waking up fully.

Kairi sighed with relief.

Sora sat up. "What are you doing here?"

"That's a nice thank you, for saving your life." She said.

Sora shook his head. "Hey guys?" called Riku, " A little help please?"

Sora looked passed Kairi's head. Riku was single handedly fighting off some glider heartless. Sora sprang to his feet. Riku needed his help, Kairi was weapon less most probably , and he had just been sleeping! Whatever was happening to him could wait. Sora summoned his Keyblade and sprang into battle. Riku was fighting with " way to the dawn " Keyblade. With the two of them fighting together, the gliders were vanquished.

"Thanks." panted Riku, Holding his injured arm, it was bleeding. Kairi went to treat Riku's injury. Sora looked around him. They were on a path that he couldn't see either end of.

"Kairi, how are you here?" said Sora.

" She stowed away in the Gummi ship. When the ship vanished, she had no place to hide." Said Riku, cringing as Kairi applied force on the injury.

Sor shook his head, "Why didn't we see that coming?"

"Ansem said you would need my help, I don't like him much but I don't care. I don't care what you say either, I wasn't going to let my friends go off into the darkness while I'm safe." She argued not looking at him.

"And did you think how we would feel if you got hurt while you were with you?" retorted Sora.

"Quit it guys, don't argue. Don't let the darkness get to you." Said Riku getting up with a bandaged arm. " Now Kairi's here and we can't reverse that but what happened to you Sora?"

"Yea, if I hadn't pulled you up, you would have been swallowed by the darkness. It's not like you to just faint on the job." Said Kairi, worried.

Sora calmed down, he didn't want to tell his friends what happened to him.

"I don't know, must have hit my head when the gummi ship vanished." he said not looking them in the eye. He hated lying, but he didn't want his friends to worry about him.

" Impossible" said Riku walking towards Sora, "the Gummi ship totally disappeared , there was nothing to hit your head with."

"It's nothing, seriously." Said Sora, giving them as much of a smile as he could manage.

Kairi grabbed his hand. "Sora, if you lied about it in the first place, it must be something serious. Please tell us."

Sora looked at her and sighed. He couldn't lie to his friends. He then told them about what had been happening to him- the strange names, the memories that weren't his- when he finely finished, Riku and Kairi were silent.

"Sora.." began Kairi.

"Don't worry." He gave them a real smile. "Let's find Aqua and then we'll see what wrong with me ok?"

They nodded, one step at a time.

"Ansem said I would be able to find her." Confessed Kairi.

"And you believe him?" said Riku with narrow eyes.

"How?" asked Sora.

"We are both Princesses of heart, we may never have met, but a link exists between every single Princess." She explained.

Sora nodded, " Give it a try."

Kairi closed her eyes and concentrated. The darkness then began to be broken by lights. Around her where two lights. The one beside her, Riku, was a greyish light. In front of her a strange two coloured light was being emitted from Sora, yellow and green, it was strange. Then from the distance a bright white light could be seen. First it was small, then it grew larger and larger, until a white light path came towards her. The lights besides her shifted and gasped. She opened her eyes, her necklace was giving of such a feint light that no one noticed. The light path was still there.

"I guess it was a good thing you came." Admitted Sora.

Kairi smiled and the trio began to walk on the path.


	5. Found in the Darkness

Found in the Darkness

As they walked on the light path, in the darkness around them, the red eyes of the heartless followed them. However, they never attacked.

When Kairi asked Riku why, he answered "The heartless desire the Keyblades of the realm of light, but they are terrified of the light itself."

Kairi nodded her agreement. Sora would have said something but his head began to hurt again. Kairi and Riku realised something was wrong with Sora, he was slightly ahead of the two of them, and was silent as a the heartless.

They kept on walking , the path never seemed to end. Sora kept on walking, and kept on walking. The path became fuzzy, everything began to spin. Everything was going dark. It was when someone cried out his name and someone pulled him up that his sight began to refocus. Riku was supporting him and kairi was running towards him. Slowly he began to support himself and stand up.

"What happened Sora?" Asked Riku, he was getting worried again.

"My head just began to hurt again that's all." He replied.

"And you fainted?" panted Kairi.

"Guess so." He said.

"Sora, we need to find a doctor." Said Kairi , franticly.

"Kairi you know right we are in the middle of the Realm of darknes." Stated Riku.

Kairi gave him a killer look.

"Let's find Aqua and get out of here first." Said Sora and began to walk. The other two walked on either side of him, to make sure he was alright.

After who knows how long, the path led them to a fleet of stair that led own to a dark beach. On the beach they saw two figures surrounded by two large darkside heartless. The trio ran down the fleet of stairs to the beck, Keyblades in hand. As they drew closer, they realised on of the figures was kneeling over the other which seemed to be unconscious. The trio flew off the last step and began to fend off the heartless. Kairi ran over to the two figures. The one kneeling was clearly Ansem. In his hands he had a damp piece of material, and was wiping the other person's brow.

The unconscious person had short blue hair. She wore a black and blue, high-collared halter top, two pink, intersecting belts over her chest, and black shorts. She also wore an odd silver badge. On the lady's arms were white bell-sleeves and tan, fingerless gloves. She also wore a small, segmented piece of armor on each of her upper arms, what appeared to be black stockings or socks on her legs which reach to about halfway up her thighs, leaving a small area of bare skin on her upper thighs. The lady also bore two strips of blue cloth that draped over either side of her hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist, draped in the same manner. She looked familiar bur Kairi couldn't remember from where. Kairi insticlty concluded that this was Aqua.

"Is this Aqua? What happened to her?" panted Kairi, kneeling besides the lady. She was about early twenties, late teens.

Ansem nodded. "The darkness has finally proved too much, she's gotten a fever and the heartless have come to take her heart away."

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Kairi, hearing the roars of battle drawing closer. She didn't dare look but these heartless seemed to be winning at the moment.

"I don't know, the only thing that will save her now is the light." Said Ansem.

"The light…" whispered Kairi, then , like a bolt of lightning, it struck her. She knew where she knew Aqua before. They had met whilst she still lived at Radiant Garden. She had save her from some heartless and she had given her some flowers. She then did something to her necklace, a protection charm. The same necklace she was wearing! If the necklace had been protecting her all this time, could it do the same for Aqua?

She hurriedly took it off and gently put it around Aqua's neck. Aqua had put a spell on the necklace to protect her. It was a wild shot but is a portion of Aqua's or Kairi's lights were saved in it, there might be enough to revive her.

At first nothing happened, and Kairi feared it wasn't going to work, but slowly the necklace began to glow, and with that, Aqua began to open her eyes.

Aqua slowly began to open her eyes, her temperature drastically went down to normal temperature. In front of her knelt someone whose face was out of focus. "Ven? Terra?" she whispered.

When her sight came to focus, she realized a girl with auburn hair, crystal blue/indigo eyes and a pale complexion knelt before her. She was wearing a pink strapless mini-dress made up of three zippers (two appeared to be just decorative) as well as a white halter top underneath her mini-dress with a black hood. She also sported three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders with a note book shaped bag attachment, and lilac sneakers. Aqua recognised her. Could this possibly be little Kairi? Ansem said eight years had passed since her arrival; Kairi would be about fifteen, sixteen by now.

Kairi gave her a broad smile. "You're finally awake!"

"Kairi, is that you?" asked Aqua sitting up.

Kairi nodded.

"Wow you've grown" how long had she been in the realm of Darkness? Not long enough for Kairi to grow so much.

Then Aqua heard crashing behind her. She turned. Two make figures were fighting of two large unversed. Where they Ventus and Terra? Had Kairi somehow saved Terra and revived Ventus and had come to the realm of darkness to save her? Whatever the case she had to help.

With Kairi's help she groggily got to her feet. With a small smile she thanked Kairi and she summoned her keyblade "storm fall" (a little surprised this keyblade came) and ran towards the fight.

At the fight, things weren't going so well. These heartless were ultra powerful and Soara and Riku were haveing a hard time staying on their feet. They were seriously bruised and scratched by know.

"We cannot give up." Said Riku using his Keyblade for support.

"We need to protect Kairi until she gets Aqua and herself to safety." Panted Sora, reading his Keyblade to attack. Just as the heartless were going to make another grab at them, something blue slashed at the arm. It instantly vanished. Before them stood a tall slim lady in blue with light blue hair and a strange blue outfit. She had blue water like Keyblade in her hands. Without a word she charged the two heartless. They didn't stand a chance. Within minutes the blue lady had turned the heartless into nothing.

Aqua ran towards the two boys, who had semi collapsed onto the floor. They weren't Ventus or Terra but they tried to protect her and now they needed her help.

One of the boys had shoulder length silver hair and blue-green eyes. He had a black zip-up tank-top and a white and yellow vest over it, he wore a pair of baggy blue denim jeans held up by a black belt covered with square spike studs, and a simple pair of sneakers. He also wore a white band on his left wrist.

The other boy had spiky caramel hair along with blue eyes. He wore a black and silver outfit that. It contains a dark style using many zippers and extra leggings and black baggy pants. Around his neck he wore a crown necklace.

Both boys were about the same age as Kairi. Could these boys possibly be Riku and Sora? As Aqua knelt down besides Sora, and Kairi hurried to treat Riku, his eyes widened with recognition. He _had_ met her before. When he was very young, before he had met Kairi. Sora could hardly believe that young lady he had met all those years ago, turned out to be a Keyblade master...

**Authors' note**

**In this chapter I was asked a few questions I wish to answer. Aqua is not hallucinating; when Kairi cured Aqua she retrieved Aqua's memories in the process. I also chose to describe the characters to indicate how it is Aqua's first time meeting the Teenagers and as first didn't recognise them. Also she recognises them so easily because in the Realm of Darkness, time passes slower than in the real world. When her memories returned, her memories of the teenagers as kids were still very fresh and she easily recognised them.**


	6. Departure

Departure

Once the boys were bandaged up. Ansem asked Aqua to explain what had happened to her, now that her memories where restored.

Aqua then began to retell in detail what had happened to her and her friends before she entered the Realm of darkness. She recalled her Mark of Mastery exam. Her first mission with Terra to defeat the unversed. Ventus running away from home. Her meetings with different people of other worlds. She also mentioned her brief meeting with Pete and Queen Minnie.

They were all listening intently. No one interrupted her, Aqua was a better story teller then she gave herself credit for. However there was one part were one of the listeners did interrupt and what he said worried the listeners greatly.

Aqua was describing her meeting with Ventus and Terra at Radiant Garden when Sora said, "Do you still have the Disney Town pass Ventus gave you?"

The question shocked both Sora and Aqua, as she had failed to mention the pass at any point in her story. Aqua paused, she looked Sora up and down. He had matured since she last saw him and now he looked so much like Ven it hurt her eyes to see him. However Aqua was certain Ven had never met Sora, and Ven had not been one to go around telling people he had ticket to Disney Town... So how did Sora know?

Aqua nodded, and showed them the wrinkled old pass, and continued with her story. How she save Kairi and met Riku and Sora at the island. He told them about her reunion with Terra and Ventus at the Keyblade grave yard. The fight with Venitas and Xehanort that took place there. Terra being possessed by Xehanort. Ventus 's fight with Ventisas and going into a deep sleep. She told them about her leaving him at the Land of Departures and the saving of Terra from the Realm of darkness by sacrificing herself. "That was when I stumbled on this little beach and found Ansem." She concluded.

Riku gave a low whistle. "That was some adventure you had."

Aqua nodded. "Now please tell me yours. How long has it been since we last met"

The trio then took it in turns to tell their parts of the story all the way to Sora and Kairi reabsorbing their nobodies. By the end of it, they concluded that it had been about eight years since the battle at the Keyblade graveyard.

"So at some point, you all had your own Keyblades?" said Aqua, surprised.

They nodded. "Yes, mine came only once and I am unable to summon it again for some reason." Said Kairi sadly.

"Mine once held the powers of darkness, but with those powers gone, it is not as powerful as it once was. Sora's is the strongest now." Said Riku.

"Neh, it not the strongest, I just had it the longest from all of you, so I know how to use it more, thats all." Said Sora.

"Oh for Pete's sake." Puffed Kairi. "Riku was just complimenting your Keyblade and you turned it down!"

With that the trio began to argue. Aqua couldn't help but laugh, they reminded her so much of Ven, Terra and herself when they were young.

It was only when the arguments stopped that Ansem spoke."I think it is about time the four of you left the Realm of Darkness and continued your quest."

"Our quest! Right!" gasped Sora. "We had to get Aqua out of here."

"But how are you meant to do that?" asked Aqua.

"That is where I come in." Said Ansem. "In this realm my powers are limited but I have just enough energy to get you to the real world."

"Couldn't you have done that without us?"questioned Riku.

"Aqua was too weak; she would have been crushed by the teleportation." Said Ansem.

"And we won't?" questioned Sora.

"I believe Aqua and Kairi have enough magic to give you a relatively pleasant journey." He replied

"I have magic?" gasped Kairi.

"Most Princesses of Heart do, but it's hidden inside them."

"I'll show someday." said Aqua.

"And what about you?" said Kairi.

"My time here is not up yet. I need time to think. I have a feeling I shall be needed here soon." He said.

Aqua nodded her understanding.

"Now the four of you stand in a circle, backs to each other." Commanded Ansem. They did so. When Ansem was satisfied, he made a circle around them with his boot in the sand. He then faced Sora who was standing between Kairi and Aqua.

" I shall be sending you to the closest world. I do not know which that would be so be prepared for a hostile welcome." They nodded their heads in understanding. "Very well. Good luck my young Keyblade wielders."

Ansem then said some strange words. The circle in the sand began to glow and a circle of light surrounded them. Sora felt the ground leave his feet and was catapulted at about 100km/min into the air. The light whizzed by him in a mixture of colours. He closed his eyes just when they crashed landed on a rocky piece of earth. Sora opened his eyes and dizzily got to his feet, dusting himself in the process.

Sora looked around him in Shock. They were on a rock a 100 meters high. Below, scattered on the ground like neglected toys, where hundreds of thousands of battered old Keyblades.

"Where are we?" whispered Kairi, from beside him.

Aqua looked around her. This was it, it was _that_ place. It hadn't changed a bit. Probably no one had been here since _that day. _ Aqua hated this place more than the realm of Darkness and this was one world that would do everyone a favour and disappear.

Sora felt his head spinning. "Not again." He thought. It was happening again. He had to tell the others, but he couldn't speak or move. This place, for some reason filled him with anger , with fear.

"The Keyblade graveyard." Said Aqua and Sora at the same time. Aqua sadly and Sora in a low growl. Then without a word he was falling over the edge of the rock.

**Hi this is Unny 18 writing- sorry this chapter was probably pretty lame, the next one should be better. This is my first proper Fanfiction so feel free to comment and make suggestions about it and I'll try to add a few fight scenes. Thanks for reading and Keep reading. **


	7. Sora?

Sora...?

Sora snapped his eyes back open, he wasn't going to let this thing take over his memories again. He looked around to tell Riku and Kairi that it had almost happened again, but they were gone. He was no longer on the giant rock but was among the keyblades. He felt extremely cold like he had just taken a dip in a frozen lake. He had a keyblade in his hand, but it wasn't his own. In front of him stood a boy who wore a black and red organic-looking bodysuit, which was quite similar to Riku's Dark Mode suite. He wore a silver helmet covered with dark glass, hiding his face from view. Sora instantly knew it was Vanitas.

Vanitas had a menacing looking Keybalde in his hand and was standing over someone, getting ready to strike. Sora's eyes widened, Aqua lay unconscious on the floor, in full armour. Keyblade outstretched, Sora ran towards him. He felt slower than usual, he realised that he himself was wearing armour. He blocked Vanitas' blow, and a good strike in the stomach sent him flying.

Sora ran after him, he had to get him as far away from Aqua as he could. Sora slashed his keyblade, strike after strike. Vanitas was only blocking his attacks; he never tried to attack back. Why? Hadn't he before said he wanted to fight to create the x-blade, had he suddenly changed his mind? But he wasn't going to let Vanitas get the upper hand. He had to defeat Vanitas before Xehanort could get his hands on the x-blade. If that involved having to destroy himself and Vanitas in the process, so be it. Vanitas then summoned four unversed which grabbed his ankle; he was almost unable to move.

A quick swipe at the ankles caused Vanitas to fall on the ground, causing Vanitas' helmet to fall off and the unversed to vanish. The boy that looked back at him was not what he expected. He had shoulder length silver hair and blue green eye. The teenager hesitated in his final blow, something was wrong. This boy, he was not Vanitas. Who was he? Then from behind he felt thin hands surround his chest, as if holding him back from his attack. He turned his head to see a pale girl with short red hair holding him back. Her eyes were glistening with tears and she seemed to be yelling something that he couldn't hear. Who was she? What was se saying? She looked like Aqua but she defiantly wasn't Aqua. The girl continued to say things he couldn't hear. Then he heard her last word before she buried her wet face in his jacket."Sora!"

Sora... Who or what was Sora? Was she calling him Sora? His name wasn't Sora, why would she call him that. However, why did he feel like he should know that name?

Then somewhere, he heard Aqua call his name...

Aqua felt a shiver go down her spine as, from their vantage point on the giant rock; she could see the remains of the keyblade war that had ranged years ago.

Riku and Kairi were staring in awe at the terrifying scene below them.

"This place gives me the creeps." Said Kairi, just to fill up the silence for a few seconds. Riku nodded his agreement. He scanned the land around him for their hostile welcome. Riku began to walk at the edge of the rock to get a good idea of their surroundings. Sora hadn't said a thing since they arrived and now kairi was getting worried.

"Sora, are you okay?" asked Kairi. He was looking down at the keyblades below; his eyes were covered by his hair. Kairi was about to ask him again when he turned round.

"Sora?" she asked again.

He didn't react. He was now looking at Riku, who was talking with Aqua about the Keyblade Graveyard. To Kairi's horror, Sora summoned his keyblade. "Sora!" screeched Kairi.

Aqua and Riku looked at Kairi, then in shock at Sora's keyblade.

"What are you...?" began Riku.

Sora readied himself to fight. "No." He seemed to talking to Riku...

"What are you talking about Sora?"said Riku, conscious of the fact that Sora had his keyblade out for some reason.

Sora ran towards him. If Riku hadn't summoned his keyblade when he did, he would have been ripped to shreds.

"Sora, what has got into you?" gasped Riku, blocking the blow with all his strength. "I never expected you to be our hostile welcome!"

Sora didn't reply. He gave Riku a strike in the stomach, sending him flying. Sora ran after him. Aqua summoned her Keyblade, and ran towards the fighting duo. Sora was slashing Riku with all his force while Riku just blocked.

"Aqua, don't attack." Gasped Riku. "Leave Sora to me."

Sora continued to attack, while Riku blocked. The latter was trying to figure out how he was going to win against Sora without hurting him.

At one point, the keyblades locked.

"The Unversed...came from you?" panted Sora.

"Unversed? What are you talking about Sora?" panted Riku.

Aqua froze momentarily; Ven had said those same words when fighting Vanitas. Sora used the word heartless, not unversed.

Then Sora struck Riku's ankles, causing him to fall. Sora was about to give the final blow when he stopped half way.

Kairi took this chance to try stop the fight. Tears pricked her eyes, why was Sora attacking Riku? They were like brothers!

Kairi put her arms around Sora; she had to try stop him. She had to try bring him back.

"Sora, please stop!" she cried. "Why are you attacking Riku? Is it the memories? Fight them Sora, I know you can! Please Sora!" she cried, burying her face in his jacket. She peeked to see what was happening. Sora was looking at her with his bright blue eyes, but they weren't Sora's eyes.

"Ven! Stop this!" yelled Aqua. Sora's face showed a moment of pain. His keyblade vanished and he rapidly began to blink.

"Kairi, why are you crying?" he asked.

Riku gave a sigh of relief; he was starting to think it was a very good thing Kairi had stowed away in the gummi ship.


	8. We have heard worse

We have heard worse

"Hey where did Vanitas go?" asked Sora, pulling Riku to his feet. Aqua was trying to calm Kairi down. Sora wasn't quite sure what happened but Kairi was crying.

"Vanitas?" asked Riku "he's long gone, like 8 years ago, right Aqua?"

Aqua nodded her head.

"Impossible, I was fighting him like five minutes ago." Protested Sora.

"Nooooooo." Said Riku. "Five minutes ago you where fighting me."

"As if! Why would I you?"

"Beats me, you started it."

Sora began to pounder on this new information. Why would he have attacked Riku? He was pretty sure he had been fighting Vanitas, yet why couldn't he remember how the fight ended?

"Sora." Whispered Kairi. "Could it have been the memories again?"

"Memories? What memories?" asked Aqua, she hadn't heard anything about any memories.

"Ever since our meeting with Ansem at Disney Castle, I've been remembering things, things that never happened to me." explained Sora.

"What sort of things." Asked Aqua. She felt a little silly asking so many questions. It was none of her business but Sora was so much like Ven, she couldn't help but worry.

"He knew things like that you were a Keyblade Master and the Disney thickets thing." Said Riku, trying to help Sora explain.

"I also remember you, and your friends Terra and Ventus." Began Sora. "I remember certain places. A castle island with flowing water, I don't know why but I just know it your home. An old man, I think is name was Eraqus or something like that, running to attack me. I also remember a piece of glass with silver wire. It was in the shape of a Paopu Fruit."

Aqua at that moment got out something from her pocket.

"Like this?" she showed him her wayfinder.

Sora nodded his head. "But the one I saw was green."

Aqua nodded. "I made two other of these things; they're called wayfinders by the way. I made an orange one for Terra... And a green one for Ventus."

"Hold it; are you saying I have Ventus' memories?" Exclaimed Sora.

"Well it is a possibility." Commented Kairi, she had finally calmed down.

"We have heard worse." stated Riku.

"That's true." Agreed Sora.

"Back on subject." Said Aqua seriously.

"Sorry" the trio said.

"Was there ever a time you met Ven?" she asked.

Sora shook his head.

"Sure?"

"Certain."

"Well for some reason Ven's memories are mixing with your own." She explained.

"Great, Now I have a feeling there's something I should remember but can't."

"You're just being paranoid now." Said Kairi.

"Is there any way to stop this?" asked Riku.

"I'm not sure, maybe we can go the world of departure." suggested Aqua.

"Your old world?" questioned Sora.

Aqua nodded. "Maybe something's happening to the world and Ven, trough Sora, is trying to tell us."

"Worth a shot." Said Sora.

"One problem." Said Riku, he hated to be the bearer of bad news. "How do we get to the world of Departure, the gummi ship vanished remember?"

"No problem, now that I'm back in the real world I can summon my armour and keyblade glider no matter where they are." explained Aqua, touching a piece of armour on her shoulder.

In a flash of light Aqua was wearing her armour and with a low whistle a black hole appeared in the sky and her Keyblade glider swooped down towards them. Aqua took her place at the wheel.

"All aboard." She chimed.

**Author's note: I have just realised that 11 years should have passed since Aqua's last meeting with the children, but I am keeping with my original idea of 8 years as in this fanfic it makes more sense for it to be 8. However feel free, whilst reading, to imagine 11 years have passed, I you wish. Ps I know this chapter was kind of boring, the next one should be better, I promise.**


	9. Breaking into the castle

Into the Castle

The journey to the world of Departure was almost as fast as that from the realm of Darkness to the keyblade graveyard; only this one didn't have the crash landing at the end.

"So this is the Land of Departure." Said Kairi, "It's a little creepy"

"This isn't the place I saw." Added Sora.

"Yes and no." Aqua began to explain. "This is the world of departure; this part was in the past known as the land of departure. However when I sealed it away it became known as castle Oblivion."

"Sounds familiar." Remarked Riku.

"So Ventus' in that creepy castle?" asked Kairi. "I feel sorry for him."

Aqua nodded. "The place feels different tough, since the last time I was here."

"Could be because of all the heartless." Said Kairi quite casually.

"Heartless?" exclaimed Riku.

Kairi put her figure on her lips and pointed to the sky above her. They all slowly looked up. Above them a strange bird-like heartless was flying away from the castle.

"It's an unversed." Whispered Aqua. "What are unversed doing here?"

"Guess that _was_ what Ventus was trying to tell us." Said Sora, a little relived they had solved the Ventus mystery.

"What now?" asked Riku

"I have to go to the castle. Ven's in there. I have to make sure he's safe." Said Aqua.

"We'll come too, right?" said Kairi. The boys nodded.

"Thank you."

"We should stay hidden as long as possible, if they suspect someone's going to break into the castle, they'll double their forces making it harder to find Ven."

The teenagers nodded their agreement and began to follow Aqua through the forests she had known so well when she was a child. With Terra's help she had found every hiding place and secret entrance there was, long before Ven came.

Along the way they saw an alarming number of heartless and unversed alike. So many that some had to be destroyed instantly upon finding the gang. However the group was more on alert than ever, the more heartless and unversed they had to destroy, the more like the enemy was to know someone was hiding in the forests.

Aqua led them to the edge of the forest, to a half broken tree. Silently she climbed inside, the others followed. A barrow had been dug deep below the remains of the tree and it kept on going deep under the castle. The passage was in total darkness but when you have spent years in the realm of darkness, you no longer need a light to see in the dark. However the teenagers weren't so lucky, they had no choice but to rely on Aqua's sight. Since Aqua practically knew those passages by heart she knew where she would find an opening near the Chamber of Waking.

Aqua at one point pushed on the passage's ceiling. As she suspected, a loose tile lay above them. As silently as she could she lifted it and pushed it to the side. The room above was a small cloak closet that was rarely used due to the lack of cloaks worn by the residents of the Land of departure. It was also the only room connected to Chamber of Waking. She helped the others into the room.

Aqua slowly opened the door and peeked around the edge, as she suspected the door led straight into the maze that protected Ventus.

Sora and the others were relieved to get out of the darkness.

"Where are we?" Whispered Riku.

"The chamber of Waking, the place where I left Ven."

"What's with the ultra high walls?" asked Sora. The passage they had just walked into was just wide enough for them to walk three at a time and the wall reached the ceiling.

"It's the protection maze, the wall are so high so that no one can just fly to the centre." She explained.

"Smart." Said Kairi poking the side of her head.

" Let me remove it..." began Aqua, but Riku interrupted her.

"Don't , if you do that not only we will have a passage to Ventus but so would the Heartless who, as you and I both know, are roaming in the passages of this maze."

"Riku's right, we'll navigate through the maze ourselves, it would be safer for Ven if we keep the maze up." Continued Sora.

"Good idea." Agreed Aqua. "But there is no way out of the maze, those who enter it are destined to roam its passages forever."

"How nice." Kairi said sarcastically.

"But if we can get close to the centre, I should be able to open a small door to the centre myself." Said Aqua.

"Worth a try." Said Sora as they began their journey through the maze.

**Author's note: Feel free to review, please!**


	10. The Maze

The Maze

Left turn, left turn, right turn , left turn. That what it was like in the maze. A collage of random directions with the hope that were nearing the maze's centre rather than the opposite. Every now and then Riku would mark the wall, to make sure that they were not going round in circles. The maze gave no clues of their position, no hints, nothing, their only choice was to keep on walking and turn back when they reached a dead end. They walked in silence, trying not to alert the heartless and unversed of their position, the passages were narrow, and a fight would be disastrous.

"How would we know that we are near the centre?" asked Kairi, breaking the long silence.

"On the wall, there should be a symbol only a keyblade master can see." Explained Aqua.

"So until we find this symbol we just walk right?" assumed Riku.

Aqua nodded. "That's the idea."

"Hey did you hear that?" whispered Sora.

The group went quiet, listening.

"I don't hear..." started Kairi when she was interrupted by a loud rumble.

The earth began to shake, a wall just grew out of the floor, splitting the group in two.

Sora began to bang his fist on the newly formed wall. "Kairi! Riku! Can you hear me!"

"Sora quiet." Whispered Aqua. "We don't want the unversed to find any of us."

"What is wrong with this maze? Is it alive or something?" yelled Sora, not paying much attention to Aqua's warning. Before Aqua could reply Sora heard a faint tap on the wall behind him.

"Sora!"It was Riku "keep going, Kairi and I are fine, we'll find each other again, don't worry! Find Ventus!" with that Sora heard no more.

"Great." Said Sora, shaking his head.

"Sora, don't worry. From what you've told me Riku and Kairi has been trough worse." Comforted Aqua.

"I know."

"Hey Sora, look at this." said Aqua pointing to something on the wall.

Sora gasped, there was a scratch mark on the newly formed wall- the same type of mark Riku had been leaving.

"Does that mean...?" he began.

"That the maze is changing? Yes."

"Why can't things ever be easy?"

"If things were easy, they wouldn't be fun now would they?"

Suddenly from behind them they heard strange noises. They turned round to see six sonic blusters flying towards them.

Aqua and Sora summoned their Keyblades.

"Fight or run?" asked Sora, getting ready for either.

"They've seen us ."replied Aqua. "Guess we don't have a choice."

The duo ran head long towards the sonic blusters. A few jumps in the air later, Aqua had destroyed three of the unversed and Sora two. He was about to slash the last sonic bluster when the earth began to rumble again and the earth moved, the passage began to rise. The unversed took this opportunity to escape. Sora was about to run after it when Aqua grabbed his arm.

"The maze is changing again, the two of us can't risk losing each other." She explained as the passage lifted them closer to the ceiling.

"But what about the unversed?" asked Sora.

"Leave it, it's too late know. We'll just have to stay on our toes from now on."

Sora nodded his head. "Shouldn't we always be on our toes?"

"So we have no problems."

When the passages finally stopped moving they continued to journey through the ever changing passages. Numerous times the two keyblade wielders encountered heartless and unversed but all were dealt similar faiths.

"Do you think we're getting any closer?" panted Sora as they ran down a fleet of stairs that were beginning to vanish.

"There's no way to know." Panted Aqua skipping the last five steps.

Sora jumped the last two steps before they vanished, this maze was annoying, causing things to vanish and appear when it wanted to. They kept on running straight into a dead end.

"We have to turn back." Panted Sora.

"That won't be easy, I hear heartless approaching." Whispered Aqua.

Sora readied his keyblade. Abruptly, Sora heard Aqua gasp behind him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered. The heartless were getting closer.

"There is the mark of mastery on the wall, this must be the exit!" she whispered running her fingers over a strange mark only she could see.

"Seriously?" whispered Sora. Aqua began tapping parts of the wall and moving them aside, Sora of course, couldn't see her doing this.

"We should be able to enter the centre now." She said when she finished.

"But how?"

"Just follow my lead." Advised Aqua walking straight into the wall. She vanished. By this time the heartless had come into view.

Sora didn't have much time to think, and blindly followed Aqua into the wall.

The section he had just entered was so bright, he had to cover his eyes. Once Sora appeared, Aqua rapidly closed the wall.

The room was a bright white that hurt Sora's eyes. The walls were blank except for the same repeated mark which he just knew was the keyblade master symbol. The room was empty except for a white, high backed throne, which was giving them its back.

"This is the chamber of waking." Said Aqua.

"I figured." Replied Sora. "Is Ventus sleeping in that Throne?"

"yes." She sadly replied. "Probably exactly the same way I left him. You see a side effect of the protection maze is that whatever it is protecting remains frozen. Although eight years have passed not even an hour has gone by since I left Ventus here."

"Wow, this place in unnecessarily confusing." Commented Sora.

Aqua couldn't help but laugh at this. "Well that's true."

Aqua and Sora ran towards the throne only slowing when they had reached the throne. They were only inches away from it when a low growl stopped them in their tracks.

"Now Aqua, don't you want to introduce me to your new friend?"


	11. Xehanort

Xehanort

"Xemnas, what are you doing here?" growled Sora, just what he needed, Organisation XIII to get involved.

"That's Xehanort."Stated Aqua

"No that is Xehanort's nobody, Xemnas." Reasoned Sora. "Xehanort was Ansem the Wise's apprentice."

"That's the Xehanort that attacked ven and took over Terra's body." Yelled aqua, frustrated.

"They are the same person?" said Sora confused.

"How many Xehanorts do you think there are!" she practically yelled.

Xehanort laughed at their stupid bickering.

"Aqua, is this what you have become? A baby sitter?" laughed Xehanort.

"Hey!"Protested Sora.

The white haired man didn't pay him any attention. "While you had been wondering trough the Realm of darkness I actually made process with my new life."

"You mean Terra's life!" spat Aqua.

"Details." He replied waving his hand. "My knowledge of the X-blade has increased."

"The x-blade?" said Sora, the word filled him with anger.

"I have finally discovered a sure fired way of extracting the x-blade from the sleeping boy." He said looking rather pleased with himself. Aqua and Sora remained silent, they didn't like were this was going. "I have spent the past eight years examining what happened that day with Ventus and Vanitas. It is still not very clear what happened during their battle but I have finally concluded what happened to Ventus after."

He began to momentarily pace. "Since that battle, Ventus has never woken up. If my theories are accurate, and they usually are, Ventus' heart has sought refuge in a stronger heart, until his own was healed."

Xehanort paused to increase the tension. "I was also able to trace Ventus' heart to its current position. If I were able to find the host and posses it as I did to Terra, the x-blade would be mine."

He paused again, savouring the tension in the air.

"And who is this host do you think?" he said to himself rubbing his chin. He Hmmed to himself and turned to Aqua and Sora again, raised an eyebrow at them and a wicked smile on his face. "You." Was all he said, pointing to Sora.

"Me?" whispered Sora, he had gone pale, his head was hurting again, and he was seeing more than one Xehanort pointing at him.

"Of course, what other reason would an average boy like you have to be a keyblade wielder? You have no magic, you're type of 'courage' is what I call stupidity and let me say your more biased on brawn then intelligence. The only way a keyblade would choose you is if a true keyblade wielder's heart resided inside you. Ventus' heart resides inside you Sora, and so does the x-blade."

The words Xehanort said stung Sora like a hundred bees. Was it true? Was the only reason he received the keyblade because somehow Ventus heart was resting within his? When did that happen? Then he remembered. When he was younger maybe seven eight, he had met a flickering light that asked to help heal it, could hat have been Ventus' heart? But why him? Why even get him involved?

"Shut up!" he heard Aqua growl. This brought him back to reality. "Even if Ven's heart lives on in Sora, I know he received his keyblade because he deserved it!"

Xehanort laughed at this. "Aqua did you spend 8 years studying the events that occurred that day? No, you were too busy in the realm of darkness to bother."

"No one can explain the heart." Explained Aqua placing her own hand over her heart. "It is a strange unknown thing that can hold both light and dark, it can never be explained, even by the most intelligent of people."

"If that is so, how is it I have learned to toy with eh hearts of the weak?" retaliated Xehanort. He snapped his fingers and out of the wall behind him began to emerge dozens of heartless and unversed, two Luna bandits were holding a squirming Riku and Kairi.

"Sora!" yelled Kairi, kicking the Luna bandit as much she could.

"Look out behind you!" yelled Riku, earning him a hit on the head from his Luna bandit that seemed to be more aggressive then Kairi. Sora jumped in the air just in time to avoid a Luna bandit jumping him from behind. Aqua wasn't so lucky. She struggled and slashed the monster with her Keyblade but when more and more began to help their friend she was soon just as trapped as Kairi and Riku. Sora landed on the thrones back.

"Let them go!" he yelled reading his keyblade for the fight to come.

"Now now, if I let them go, how would be able to reach an agreement." Chimed Xehanort

Sora narrowed his eyes. "An agreement?"

"I let your friends go for you." He said quite casually.

"Me? For them?" he said straitening up.

"Sora don't!" yelled Aqua. The heartless tried to shut her up. "If he gets the X-blade it's the end of all worlds."

"And if you don't I destroy your friends, which would allow the darkness that is surely hidden deep inside your heart to take over, causing the x-blade to form. It's a win win situation for me." Said Xehanort.

The others began to yell protests, trying to tell Sora not to do it, but he couldn't let his friends suffer because of his cowardice.

"Fine let them go and tell me what to do." Announced Sora.

His friends began to protest and yell at him but he blocked them out. Another evil smile appeared on Xehanort's face. "Jump off from their and I'll let them go."

Without hesitation, Sora jumped. One landing four unversed grabbed his legs making him unable to move.

"You've got me now let them go!" he yelled. Xehanort walked towards Sora.

"All in good time." He said, stomping in front of him. He outstretched his hand until it was right in front of Sora's face. "The x-blade is finally mine!" he yelled as a black light exploded out of his palm straight into Sora's face.

The unversed holding Sora vanished, allowing the boy to collapse on the floor, Xehanort did the same thing. The teenagers and Aqua held their breath, not sure of what just happened. Without warning, Sora began to get up. He seemed fine except for the fact that his hair had turned white. He looked at the captives, they weren't Sora's eyes, but eyes that sought power and darkness.

"the immortal Xehanort's third life." Stated Sora, using Xehanort's voice.


	12. Useless Pupil

Useless Pupil

"Why do you need Sora!" cried Kairi.

"Silly girl, if I am in possession of the heart that holds Ventus' heart, then the x-blade is mine." Said Sora with Xehanort's voice. **(From now until I say otherwise, when I just write ****Xehanort**** I mean ****Xehanort**** trough Sora's body.)**

Xehanort walked up to the struggling Aqua. "What are you going to do now?" she spat.

"I'm going to get rid of you three pests. You, Terra and even Ventus have always been thorns in my side. Now that the x-blade is in my position, you shall be thorns no more." He laughed.

"Know this, even if I fall, other WILL rise to stop you." Squirmed Aqua. A smile spread over Xehanort's face.

"That is why I'll keep you for last, I will let you witness your friends' destructions while you helplessly watch." Aqua's look at that moment would have killed the strongest of men. Xehanort, at that moment, tried to summon the x-blade but failed, this didn't worry him, somewhere within Sora's heart slept Ventus', once he found it the x-blade would be his for now he would have to settle with Sora's.

Xehanort began to walk toward the throne, he had been looking forward to this execution for years...

Sora looks around him. It is night, a stream of shooting stars could be seen above him. He was walking up a grassy hill, where he did not now. At the top of the hill was a small wooden bench. Someone was sitting on it. As Sora drew closer, the person began to take shape. Blue eyes, spiky blond hair and a black and white jacket.

At first Sora panicked, the boy looked like Roxas. It was only when Sora was standing in front of the boy did he begin to doubt his previous assumption.

"Have you come to watch the stars with me Sora?" asked the boy, looking at Sora.

Sora shakes his head. "You're Ventus?"

The boy nodded.

" They need help on the outside." Said Sora .

"I know, I saw what was happening trough your eyes." Explained Ventus.

"They need your help." Sora said bluntly.

"They need our help." Ventus countered

"Are you ready?" asked Sora

"I have healed enough, it's time for me to welcome the worlds again." Said Ventus

"Ventus, why had you chosen me?" asked Sora.

"I am not sure myself, a link had been forged between our hearts. I do not know why." Ventus uncertainly said.

Xehanort slowly walked towards the throne, gripping Sora's keyblade tightly. Ventus' long awaited punishment was afoot. Xehanort heard a gasp from behind him, he spun round blocking a keyblade that was going to slash him from behind.

"Ah I see you recovered fast." Commented Xehanort.

Terra pushed against Xehanort's keyblade. He wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten here but he had a good idea of what was happening. Aqua was captured and Xehanort was going after Ven.

"Don't hurt Sora!" yelled Kairi. Riku besides her was analysing the situation, Terra might have regained some of his strength but he'd need help to defeat Xehanort, if only the unversed would just loosen its grip slightly...

"Terra have you forgotten the basics?" said Xehanort.

Two giant hands grabbed Terra from behind, and threw him against the wall. Terra slumped on the ground.

"Never turn your back to the enemy." Said Xehanort, watching as the giant unversed sank into the shadows.

"Terra!" yelled Aqua.

Xehanort was about to turn back to the throne when Aqua stopped him.

"Xehanort! Please, just leave Ven alone! He was your pupil for Pete's sake, does that mean nothing?"She yelled fighting against her captives.

"My pupil?" he laughed "do you even know how I got Ventus as my pupil? You probably believe he was some orphan like you and Terra. I told everyone that, even he believed it, however, his parents are just fine."

"What?" said Aqua not believing what she was hearing.

"Oh, don't worry, they didn't give him away, I just decided to take him that's all." Said Xehanort quite innocently. "You see, while my studies, during my youth, I came across a prophecy that said the on the night of shooting stars, when all the worlds would align, a child would be born on an island world that would have power over the x-blade. After further exploration I discovered numerous island worlds so decided to monitor them till the day of the worlds' alignment which was to happen in the near future. Hardly five years passed from then that on the day of the prophecy Ventus was born on the Paradise islands. Two weeks later, I cast a spell in the island, they all forgot of Ventus' birth allowing me to take him away without anyone noticing. on that day, I claimed Ventus as my pupil."

Xehanort savoured the looks of outrage on their face but failed to mention that about eight years later, when the planets had relined a child was born on Paradise islands, however due to the lack of the shooting stars he did not even consider him as the x-blade wielder.

Then Xehanort ignoring his captives went back to his original plan of killing is useless pupil.


	13. Reunion

Reunion

The Stars were still falling above the two boys.

"Sora, thank you allowing me to heal within your heart." Thanked Ventus.

"It was nothing, seriously, I honestly forgot you were here." Said Sora with a goofy smile on his face.

"I think it's time for me to leave." Said Ven getting off the bench.

"I'll see you on the other side." Said Sora. Ven nodded his head and began to walk down to cliff were he knew his exit awaited him. It was when he had reached the bottom and Sora saw him begin to fade that both boys, simultaneously knew for some unknown reason, why their hearts were linked.

Sora looked up at the starry sky.

_Kairi, Riku._ He thought. _Wait for me, I'll be following Ven out of her soon..._

Xehanort was taking his time to reach the throne, he was savouring the pained and desperate expression on Aqua's face.

"Xehanort don't you know the expression, you snooze, you lose?"

Xehanort suddenly stiffened, from behind the throne, Ventus emerged, wide awake keyblade in hand. Aqua was just as shocked as Xehanort at Ventus appearance.

"Xehanort, it looks like you just saw a ghost." Said Ventus, casually.

"You, how did you awake? Sora's heart is still in my position, how did you awake?" said Xehanort, trying to get over his shock.

"Xehanort, you may be controlling Sora, but Sora never controlled my heart, I was free to leave when I wanted." Explained Ventus stopping in front of Xehanort.

"No matter, the x-blade will be mine no matter what." He yelled, charging at Ventus. Riku yelled a warning. Ven just jumped in the air, dodging Xehanort's attack easily.

Something was wrong, he (Xehanort) could have easily followed Ventus in the air and continued his attack, but Sora's body wasn't responding as much as before. Could it be that Sora was trying to resist him? Impossible that boy was weak no matter how you looked at it he couldn't be resisting Xehanort.

Ventus landed behind him. "Is that all you can do old man?"

Xehanort, furious, ran towards him. Without hesitating, Ven blocked Xehanort's attack. Xehanort could feeling Ventus' strength, in his current weak body, he would surely loose if they were to fight.

"Would you really attack your own brother?" commented Xehanort. He had said this to shock Ventus, to distract him, but while the others just stared open mouthed, Ventus didn't even flinch.

"I know Sora's my brother, and as his older brother I have a duty to protect him. If that means having to beat him to a pulp so be it." And with that, Ventus knee Xehanort in the stomach. With a load umph, Xehanort crashed into the throne. He tried to get up but whose body wouldn't let him.

"Why isn't his body responding?" Xehanort asked himself.

"I know," said Ventus, walking towards him. "You underestimated Sora, his heart is stronger than you think."

Xehanort finally got on his feet but when he recalled the keyblade from the floor, vanished and no matter how much he tried, it wouldn't reappear. Ventus gave him a good kick in the chest. He was being merciful by not using his keyblade on his little brother and to hand combat was his only means of fighting right now.

Xehanort was on the floor again, Sora's body was totally unresponsive now, he was like a puppet that had not control over his own limbs. Then to make matter worse, his head began to hurt like Hell. It hurt so much he actually rolled onto a ball.

"What. Is. Happening?" he said between deep breaths.

" Sora's happening, he wants his body back and I wouldn't blame him." Said Ventus standing over Xehanort.

The heartless and unversed began to vanish, freeing their captives. Kairi and Riku ran towards Ventus and Xehanort, while Aqua first went to wake Terra up. A few gentle slaps on his face and he was wide awake.

"Aqua, is that you?" he whispered.

"Thank goodness, you're ok." She whispered back, so happy that Terra was finally back to normal.

Aqua helped Terra to his feet and the two keyblade wieldier ran to were Ven and the others were. They momentarily heard and inhuman scream that sent chills down their spines. When they arrived the tree teenagers were kneel in front or semiconscious Sora who was sitting upright with the ruined throne behind him.

"Sora are you ok?" they heard Riku ask.

"I'm fine" replied Sora trying to shake the harshness that had been used by Xehanort, out of his voice.

"You reckless imbecile, if Ven hadn't intervened you could have done some serious damage." Scolded Kairi, you deep down, was feeling relieved that Sora was ok.

"Wow, I can really feel the love." Said Ventus, sarcastically. Both Kairi and Sora gave him a look, both their faces slightly red.

Aqua and Terra came to stop behind Ven. "Ven is that really you."

He got up and turned towards them. He was shocked by how much he had missed them, tears pricked his eyes. Aqua looked more or less the same, maybe a few years older but that was all. Terra on the other hand was wearing a lab coat that didn't suit him and must have been in his mid twenties.

The trio was silent for a moment, that all at once Ventus ran towards them gave them a hug so strong he could have squeezed the life out of them.

"I'm so glad you two are safe." He half sobbed.

Terra ruffled his hair. "What ye think, your elder wouldn't be able to take care of themselves?"

"Ven, I'm so glad you finally woke up." said Aqua, hugging Ventus and Terra back.

At last she thought we are finally all together.

"Oh isn't this a touching reunion." Said a familiar voice.


	14. Brother Act

Brother Act

The two groups spun round to see were Xehanort's voice was coming from, nothing was there.

"Can't find the enemy?" asked the voice. "That is really unfortunate for you."

"Where is he?" whispered Riku, summoning his keyblade.

"I don't know." Whispered Aqua, tightly holding her keyblade, her eyes scanning the area around them.

"Xehanort, show yourself!" growled Sora.

"Very well. " said the voice. On the ground appeared a black dot, which rapidly began to expand and out of it emerged the largest Darkside any of them had ever seen.

Those who hadn't summoned their keyblades summoned it. Aqua, Ventus and Terra summoned their Armour. Kairi, tried to summon her keyblade but it never appeared.

"Great." She Said clenching her fists like a boxer, she wasn't going to let her friends fight alone, if she had to fight with her bare hands, so be it.

"Look at what you have forced me to possess. a heartless!" he bellowed.

"Well it's still an improvement from you original body." Smirked Terra.

"The x-blade will be mine, no matter what!"He yelled, out of the shadows, unversed and Heartless began to emerge, hundreds of them, all different but all with the same goal- capture Ventus, consume the rest.

The heartless charged at them. "Kairi, catch this!" yelled Terra, throwing something at Kairi. Kairi caught it and Gasped. "This is Destiny's embrace, my old keyblade, how'd you get it?"

"I'll explain later." Said Terra. the group formed a circle and waited .

"Kairi..." began Sora as Kairi came between Riku and Sora.

"Don't say anything Sora, I'm fighting whether you like or not." Said Kairi, with as much force as she could ménage in her voice.

"I wasn't going to say that." Said Sora. "Please be careful."

"If she's anything like Aqua she'll be just fine." Said Venus from besides Sora, he was facing Xehanort.

Riku, Sora and Kari all nodded their head at this.

The group tried as much as possible not to lose formation but when the heartless began to appear at the centre of the circle, they had no choice but to break formation.

A group of Scrappers and Neoshadows were surrounding Aqua. Keyblade tightly held, she somersaulted over the monsters. They vanished on contact. She came to a jumping stop, attacking two archravens with a mixture of a thunder/water spell. She landed with a light thud on the floor, as the archravens vanished before hitting the ground.

Terra was on a rampage, the Gargoyle warriors and the tank Topplers had no chance. Although his attacks were slow, his strength left a trail of vanishing monsters behind him. Terra was on a roll, he sent a few meteors blasting into some Sneak Armies .

Riku was riding on the back a windstorm. The monster was panicking but Riku took this advantage to get rid of some of the flying Heartless and unversed. He slashed and stabbed them until they fell to the ground. They were falling like flies.

Kairi was doing surprisingly well. She was single handily fighting a Metamorphosis. The unversed made wide grabs at Kairi, but she easily dodged them. Her attacks, when she managed some, didn't do much damage. The Metamorphosis, made a grab at Kairi, she tried to dodge, but the tentacle wrapped itself around her waist. Kairi tried to free herself but the Metamorphosis tightened its grip.

Sora was about to turn and help Kairi, when she slashed the Metamorphosis' tentacle, causing it to drop her. The monster withered in pain. Kairi made a wild dash, and slid below it, stabbing it from below. It gave a hair raising scream and collapsed on the ground. Kairi stabbed it in the head before it could get up, causing it to vanish.

Ventus and Sora were fighting side by side, slashing and stabbing at the black monsters that surrounded them.

"How you holding out?" panted Sora.

"You don't need to worry about your older brother, I'm not that old." Half laughed Ven, stabbing a grand ghost. Then out of the blue two large hands grabbed Sora and Ventus and lifted them in the air.

"Hey!" they both protested.

"The x-blade will be mine, no matter what." Cried Xehanort, bringing the two boys close to his face.

"Never "Cried Ventus , trying to squirm himself out of Xehanort's grip.

"If you don't give it to me, I crush your brother!" he said tightening his grip on Sora.

Sora's face showed that he was in pain but he managed to say. "Ven, don't you dare."

Xehanort squeezed even tighter.

"Okay I'll do it!"Yelled Ventus.

Xehanort loosened his grip slightly. Ven closed his eyes and tried to picture the x-blade, he felt his keyblade vanish . He opened his eyes and sure enough the x-blade was hovering between Sora and Ventus.

"Ventus, no!" yelled Sora, struggling more than ever.

"Ah fighting sure makes me hungry, I think I feel like have a small snack, maybe some keyblade brothers?" he said casually, starting to transfer the two brothers towards his mouth. Just as he was opening his mouth, a yell left Xehanort's lips . He let Sora go, he had his Keyblade in his hand. He grabbed Xehanort's tomb, pulled himself up and jumped to grab the x-blade . Sora landed on the hand that was holding Ventus and stabbed the hand. Xehanort let go of Ventus. The two brothers began to fall. Xehanort tried to squash them as they fell, but in his new darkside body he was slow and clumsy and missed them.

"Xehanort, your about to meet your maker" Said Sora pointing the x-blade at Xehanort.

The Darkside laughed at this. "Even with the x-blade you won't win.".

Ventus grabbed the other handle of the x-blade. "We'll defeat him together."

Sora nodded his head.

And at the same time they pulled the x-blade in towards them. The x-blade that had been crossed moments ago, was uncrossed and each sibling had a blade.

"The x-blade, was split." Gasped Xehanort.

"That is the secret of the x-blade, when alone it may be powerful but it can't reach its full potential. It is only when the pair fight together that it's true power can be seen." Explained Ventus, throwing his x-blade in the air and catching it.

"Even if you had somehow captured the x-blade, your faith would have been similar to Ven's only you would be lost to the darkness rather than lose your heart, which you don't have." Continues Sora.

"Do you honestly believe you know more about the x-blade then the man who has been studying it for years.?" Bellowed Xehanort, momentarily shrinking to normal human size.

"Well we are the x-blade wielders." Sated Ventus.

"We should know a thing or two about it." Continued Sora.

"Guys stop talking and beat him already." Yelled Riku from above, he was still riding the windstorm.

Without another word Sora and Ventus ran at Xehanort. They struck as one, the power of the x-blade was unimaginable. Xehanort shot missiles at them but the x-blade simply destroyed them. Xehanort didn't stand a chance. Ventus and Sora stabbed him in the chest.


	15. New Beginning

A new beginning

Xehanort faded into the shadows screaming. The heartless and unversed vanished with him. Aqua, Terra, Riku and Kairi ran over to the boys, who had half collapsed.

"Sora are you ok?" asked Kairi helping Sora to stand.

"Ven are you alright?" asked Aqua , doing the same to Ven.

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine." Said Sora, the x-blades began to vanish.

" Even me." Said Ventus, trying to stand on his own.

"You two where fantastic!" said Terra, slapping Sora and Ventus on the backs, nearly causing the two boys to fall.

"Is he really gone?"Asked Kairi.

"I doubt it." Said Riku. "His heart had long been swallowed by the darkness, probably he joined the heartless in the Realm of Darkness."

"If that is true, I hope he never finds the exit." Said Aqua sternly.

" And even if he does, we'll just send him back." Said Ven.

"Yep, together, all six of us are unbeatable, and the light will always win." Said Sora.

Suddenly the castle began to shake.

"What's going on now?" said Kairi, slight panic could be heard in her voice.

"The world has suffered too much damage, it won't last much longer." Said Aqua deactivating the ruined maze. "We must leave now!"

"Goofy, Donald, thank the worlds, if you hadn't come, I don't know how we would have escaped." Praised Sora as they climbed out of a aircraft that looked like a newer version of the gummi ship. Goofy and Donald had a proud look on their faces.

"We could have used our keyblade riders." Commented Terra.

"Let them have their moment." Whispered Riku.

"Your majesties!" greeted Kairi on meeting King Mickey and Queen Minnie.

"Long time no see you three." Greeted Minnie.

"To long your Majesty." Said Aqua, bowing.

"Welcome back." Greeted them Mickey.

"Good to be back." Said Riku.

"Ven, I'm glad you finally woke up, you had us all really worried." The king told him.

"Sorry about that." Said Ven putting one hand behind his head.

When the greetings where over, the royals of Disney Castle led the new arrivals to the conference hall, where Ansem's apparition was waiting for them.

"Ansem has been keeping us updated you see." Explained the King. "He informed us that the last Keyblade master Aqua and her companions Ventus and Terra were freed and Xehanort was defeated and sent to the Realm of Darkness."

"I shall keep an eye on him on this side. If Xehanort tries anything funny, I'll try and stop him and inform your Majesties." Explained Ansem.

"Terra, Aqua, Ventus, please except my regret that your homes were destroyed." Said Minnie sadly.

"Where shall you go?"Asked Donald.

"Ven you should be able to return home with Sora at Destiny Islands, now that Xehanort is defeated his spell on the residents of Destiny islands should expire." Clarified Ansem.

"Heard that Ven? Your can come home with us." Said Sora happily.

"But what about Aqua and Terra?" enquired Ventus, he was overjoyed he'd finally get to meet his family, but Terra and Aqua were his family too, he couldn't leave them.

"Since there world was destroyed, they are free to live on any world they please." Stated King Mickey.

Aqua and Terra looked at each other and Terra asked." Would it be alright if we went to Destiny islands with Ven?".

"That would be great.!" Sora happily said.

"Terra you can stay with me and my Family." Offered Riku.

"And aqua you can stay with me." Kairi happily offered.

"At least until you get your own homes." Said Riku. "New buildings take a while to be built on the islands."

"Thank you very much." Thanked Aqua.

"You can take the Gummi ship v2.0."Offered Goofy.

"Just get this one back ." Said Donald.

"Ye sorry about that." Apologised Sora.

Six figures stood on a white sanded beach, watching and waving at the Gummi ship v2.0 that was flying into the sunset. A cool sea breeze blew in their faces.

"Welcome to Destiny Islands." Announced Sora. "Come on Ven, let me show you where our parents and I live. It's nothing compared to what your used too, but it has an awesome view."

Sora would have continued talking if Kairi hadn't called him. Sora turned his head to face her and she kissed him. It was very brief, so brief that when it ended Sora was still under shock. Sora's face turned pink.

"About time." Said Riku under his breath, a small smile on his face.

By this time Aqua, Terra and Ven where a little ahead of them, savouring the beauty of Destiny islands at sunset. They hadn't seen what had just happened, or if they did they chose not to say anything.

"Weren't you going to take Ven home?" said Kairi winking at sora, a wide smile on her face. "Hey Riku, wipe that silly grin of your face!" she laughed. "Now that I am a keyblade wielder like the two of you, I can out run you to Poupus square!"

And without warning Kairi sprinted past them. The two boys, without hesitating ran after her, they had a reputation to keep. In no time the trio had run past Ven and the others.

Ven stopped and looked at Aqua and Terra. A broad grin on his face. The Keyblade wielders started to laugh, they were looking forward to their new life on the Destiny islands.

"Hey Ven, Aqua, Terra, coming?" they heard Sora yell.

They began to run after the running teenagers. Something in the sky caught Ven's eye. He looked up. The sky was invaded by hundreds of shooting stars, as if signifying a new beginning.

**Authors' note: so that's it, the grand finale. I hope you all enjoyed it and I thank all of you who have been with me to the very end. Feel free to review and I hope you all like my Kingdom Hearts Fan fiction!**


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